Hardcover Book, 304 pages

Description

James Ellroy called Les Standiford "the unassailable new kingpin of the south Florida crime novel ... inheritor of the Elmor] Leonard mantle". Standiford shows how richly he deserves such praise in his most intricate, white-knuckle thriller yet, in which reluctant hero John Deal gets kidnapped -- along with the First Lady of the United States.

When John Deal Saves Dozens of Drowning People while fishing off the Florida Coast, his heroism draws the attention of the White House. For Deal, the attention is nothing he would have sought. He doesn't feel like a hero, and at the moment he's more interested in fixing his private problems than attaining public glory. At his friends' insistence, however, he attends the ceremony.

When the President is called away at the last minute, the First Lady steps in to present the awards to the assembled heroes. But as she concludes her address, armed terrorists, disguised as police, open fire on the assembled dignitaries. Scores are killed. The First Lady is kidnapped along with Deal, who is mistaken for a secret service agent.

In a turbulent aftermath that whisks readers from south Florida to the storm-tossed waters of the Caribbean, Deal's friend Vernon Driscoll, an ex-Miami homicide detective, uncovers shocking evidence of the high-level treachery behind the kidnapping, while Deal and the First Lady struggle to escape as a fearsome hurricane bears down on the tiny island that imprisons them.

James Ellroy called Les Standiford "the unassailable new kingpin of the south Florida crime novel ... inheritor of the Elmor] Leonard mantle". Standiford shows how richly he deserves such praise in his most intricate, white-knuckle thriller yet, in which reluctant hero John Deal gets kidnapped -- along with the First Lady of the United States.

When John Deal Saves Dozens of Drowning People while fishing off the Florida Coast, his heroism draws the attention of the White House. For Deal, the attention is nothing he would have sought. He doesn't feel like a hero, and at the moment he's more interested in fixing his private problems than attaining public glory. At his friends' insistence, however, he attends the ceremony.

When the President is called away at the last minute, the First Lady steps in to present the awards to the assembled heroes. But as she concludes her address, armed terrorists, disguised as police, open fire on the assembled dignitaries. Scores are killed. The First Lady is kidnapped along with Deal, who is mistaken for a secret service agent.

In a turbulent aftermath that whisks readers from south Florida to the storm-tossed waters of the Caribbean, Deal's friend Vernon Driscoll, an ex-Miami homicide detective, uncovers shocking evidence of the high-level treachery behind the kidnapping, while Deal and the First Lady struggle to escape as a fearsome hurricane bears down on the tiny island that imprisons them.